When it comes to placing designs or advertising on windows such as those in stores, business establishments and homes, it has usually been required that the decoration must be drawn directly on the glass by an artist or person having considerable skill. Thus, during a holiday season or for a special occasion an advertising design display or greeting of this type is placed on a suitable window or other surface for viewing either from the outside or from the inside, but not both. Up until now, it has been impossible to have a suitable display that is viewable from both sides with the same quality and appearance.
Because of the fact that eventually the design will have to be removed, it was necessary to apply the design with water soluble paints or inks and to apply the design to the side of the window that was protected from the weather which usually meant the inside. Thus, the artist if he wanted to make a presentation which would be viewed from the outside, would have to reverse his image for the specific viewing and then overlay the entire design when completed with an opaque material to increase the visibility of the image.
Once the usefulness of the presentation or display has been completed, it is then necessary to remove the design by washing the window and removing the paint or inks that were used. As a result, the original artwork is lost forever with any new presentation having to be made again later as a new original design.
In fairly recent years, improvements in this method have been incorporated by using transparent plastic sheet material as a base substrate or carrier for applying the design. These types of materials have the capability of being charged by static electricity and substantially adhere to the surface of a clean window by the electro-static charge. In this way, the design can be applied to the transparent sheet material and the material can be removed and discarded once the usefulness of the design has been completed.
It was found in preparing these types of displays that it was necessary to provide an opaque underlayment coating directly on the substrate to provide a backing for the multiple colors that are subsequently used to complete the design. Thus, the underlayment was a necessary step in order to provide a design or presentation which could be correctly seen when placed on the window. This is especially true, when sunlight shines on the window which in many cases washes out the colors of the design making the presentation difficult to see.
This same type of process has been used for a number of years in the manufacture of decalcomania. In a decalcomania process which is commonly called "decals", the decal has a design which is printed directly on a flexible transparent substrate or film material which is mounted by a suitable water activated adhesive to a backing sheet. The design itself is printed in the same manner as described above. Thus, an underlayment layer is provided to make the design and the colors of the design visible and legible. Because of this process, the design can only be adequately viewed from one side. Depending upon whether the decal or the display is to be placed on the inside or the outside of a window, the design must be arranged accordingly to accommodate the side from which the display will be viewed.
Because of these limitations, it has been known for many years that it would be of great advantage to be able to view a design display placed on a window, divider, or other mounting surface so that the display can be viewed with equal clarity from either side. Thus, one design will have the advantage of providing double function and thus, performing double duty. Accordingly, the applicants have developed a unique and novel process for printing a display or presentation so that is can be readily seen from either side so that it is immaterial as to which side the display is being viewed.
In addition, it is an advantage and feature of this invention that the display product can be easily removed from the window and stored for later reuse or moved to a different location as desired. Another feature of this invention is that the display can have the appearance of being hand drawn or painted on the window and yet, it can be easily removed and reused as desired. It has been found that a product of this type can have major advantages over the prior inferior products which have existed for many years.